Slack-adjuster for railway-brakes.



l. G. DOWNS.

SLACK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY BRAKES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6, 1915.

1 1 86,385 Patentd June. 6, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET ll. G. DOWNS.

SLACK ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY BRAKES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 6, 1915.

1,186,385. PatentedJuno 6,1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

1 911 3 Q m Mew 43216.4

* $1 144x, Gum/" 1 UNITED STATES IRVING G. Downs, or nonnnrs, New YORK.

SLACK-ADJUSTER FOR RAILWAY-BRAKES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 6, 1915. Serial N 0. 12,566.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, InvmeG. DowNs, a

citizen of the United States of America, re-' siding in the village ofHollis, in the county of Queens and State of New York,-have in-.,

. vented certain new and useful Improvements in Slack-Adjusters forRailway- Brakes,,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates more particularly to automatic slack adjusters forrailway brakes using shim plates, and themain object of my invention isto provide a more simple, convenient and eflicient constructionthanheretofore proposed for the purpose.

In the accompanying. drawing, Figure l is a skeleton side elevation,illustrating one form. of my invention in its application to the clasptype of brake; Fig. 2 is an enlarged side elevation, partly in section,of the slackadjusting end of the device; Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan onthe line 33, Fig. 1, but drawn to a larger scale; Fig. 4 is a skeletonside elevation, showing the application of the invention to a type ofbrake in which a single shoe is used for each wheel. Fig. 5 is a sideelevation of a modification; Fig. 6 is a sectional plan on the line 66,Fig. 5, drawn to a larger scale. 7

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, showing the clasp-brake type,A A are thewheels, and B, B are the brake shoes, which are adapted to be pressedagainst the opposite sides of the wheels. At the left of Fig. I I haveshown in full lines the construction of parts =according to myinvention. On the right, for the other wheel, this construction is to berepeated, and for simplicity I have there in icated the parts onlydiagrammatically. ne of the brake shoes B for each wheel is shownpivotally connected to the live lever L, while the other shoe B ispivotally connected to the dead lever D,'swung at 20 from the frame F(indicated by dotted lines) and acted upon by the release spring R. Thebrake shoe B is pivotally suppported at 23 by a hanger and for thispurpose I may make use of a lever H, which is pivoted at 21 to the frameF and whose principal function is hereinafter described. The connectionsof the brake shoe B to the live lever L and to the lever H, may beby'one and the same pivot pin or by another. The lower extended ends ofthe live and dead levers L and D are connected with each other through aconnecting rod in the form of a pair of bars C, Figs. 1 and 3,

the pivot-pin p of the lever L being freely movable in longitudinalslots cin the bars C,

as is common. Closely adjacent to the lower end of this live lever LImou'nt the slack ad uster shim box or take-up device. In the Ipreferred form the shim-containing box S 1s mounted on the inner ends ofthe bars (3,1

while the bar T to coiiperate with the shim plates is shown as connectedto the end of the live lever L, but this arrangement may be reversed, ofcourse. I provide the lower end of the lever H, which I may term theslack ad usting lever, with an extension It below its pivotal connectionwith the shoe B, and

this extension has a loose or free play connection with the adjustingbar G, as by making the connecting pin smaller in diameter than the holeor holes through which it passes. This adjusting bar is slotted at 22and is there connected through a friction clutch g to that part of theshim ad'uster. device which is secured to the bars ,in this instance,the shim box S. This friction clutch may be in the usual form of a bolt,nut and spiral spring, as indicated in Fig. 3. In the describedconstruction, the action of the shim adjuster is as follows: As theshoes wear, the application of the brakes Patented June 6, 1916.

will cause theadjusting bar G tobe drawn farther to the left (Fig. 1),owing to the relative movements of the levers L and H, thus changing thepoint of connection of the V adjusting bar G at g to the shim-box slackadjuster. When the brakes are released again, the frictionat 9 holds thebar G in its newly adjusted connection to the slack adjuster, with theeffect of then allowing a shim plate to drop down behind the bar In theconstruction described,-it' will be seen that 'by mounting theslack-adjuster near the bottom of the-live'lever, I am able to avoid theuse of a long adjuster bar which in the clasp type of brake would haveto extend across the face of the wheel and in the case of single shoebrakes would extend across or underneath the bolster. At the same time,I secure a very simple construction and action by the extension h on alever, such as the hanger lever H, connected to the frame and to theshoe to which latter the live lever is connected, so that relativemovements of these two levers eflect the slack adjustment automatically.In Fig. 4, I have shown the same construction applied to a type of brakewith but one shoe for each wheel. In this case, A, A are the two wheels,with brake shoes B and B and L is the live lever, while D is the deadlever pivotally connected to the respective brake shoes. The lower endsof these two levers are joined by a connecting rod C the connection. tothe live lever being by a pin and slots, asbefore. This connecting rodcarries the shim box S which has a pin and slot connection through afriction clutch 9 to the shortv adjusting bar G. This latter has a looseor free play connection to the extension h of the lever H, which ispivoted to the frame at 21 and to the brake shoes at 23. The operationof this construction is substantially the same as that described withreference to Figs. 1 to 3, as will be readily understood.

In the modification shown in Figs; 5.and 6 the adjusting bar G as aseparate device is dispensed with, and the lower end of the lever Hisconnected. more directly to j that part of the shim plate slackadjusting device which is not connected to the end. of the live lever.As shown, the lever H is connected to the slotted part of the connectingbar C through the medium of a pin 24, which itself is held in the slotby .a friction clutch device such as 9 The end of the lever H has looseor free-play connection with the pin 2%, as by making the opening in thelever H for the passage of the pin larger than the diameter of the pin.The shim box S is attached as before to the end of the bar C While theother part of the adjuster is connected to the end of the live lever. L.

I claim as my invention:

1. Railway brake means, comprising live and dead levers and connectingmeans and brake shoes connected to said levers in combination with ashim-plate slack adjuster, and a slack adjusting lever bearing againstthe frame and pivotally connected to the brake shoe to which the livelever is connected, said slack-adjusting lever having an extension belowthe shoe connected to one part of the shim plate slack-adjuster Whilethe live lever is connected to the other part of said adjuster, andfriction means, interposed between the' slack adjuster and the slackadjusting lever for the purpose described.

2. Railway brake means, comprising live and dead levers and connectingmeans and brake shoes connected to said levers in combination with ashim-plate slack-adjuster and a slack adjusting lever bearing againstthe frame and pivotally connected to the brake shoe to which the livelever is connected, said slack adjusting lever having an exten mensession below the shoe, with a pin and slot and friction connection to onepart of the shim plate slack-adjuster while the live lever isconnectedto the other part of said ad uster.

3. Railway brake means, comprising live and dead levers and connectingmeans and brake shoes connected to said levers in combination with ashim-plate slack-adjuster near the lower end of the live lever, a slackadjusting lever bearing against the frame and pivotally connected to thebrake' shoe to which the live lever is connected, said slack adjustinglever having an extension below the shoe, connected to one part of theshim plate slaclcadjuster while the live lever is connected to the otherpart of said adjuster.

4. Railway brake means, comprising live and dead levers and connectingmeans, and brake shoes connected to said levers in combination with ashim plate slack-adjuster, and a hanger for the brake shoe to which thelive lever is connected, said hanger having an extension below the shoeconnected to one part of the slack adjuster while the live lever isconnected to the other, and friction means interposed between the slackadjuster and the slack-adjusting lever for the purpose described.

5. Railway brake means, comprising live and dead levers and connectingmeans, and brake shoes connected to said levers in com.- bination with ashim plate slack-adjuster and a hanger forthebr'ake shoe to which thelive lever is connected, said hanger having an extension below the shoe,and an adjuster bar connected to said extension, and having a pin, slotand friction connection to one of the parts of slack adjuster, while theother-part is connected to the live lever.

6. Railway brake means, comprising live. and dead levers and connectingmeans and brake shoes connected to said levers, in combination with ashim plate slack-adjuster closely adjacent to the end of the live lever,and a hanger. for the brake shoe to which the live lever is connected,said hanger having an extension below the shoe connected to one part ofthe slack-adjuster while the live lever'is connected to the other, andinterposed friction means in connection with the hanger.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

' IRVING G. DOWVNS. lVitnesses VVAL'rEa Anon, L. H. Gno'rn.

